Earle takes hard-fought victory atop Zig Zag

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Nathan Earle (Huon Salmon-Genesys Wealth Advisers) took a hard-fought victory on Stage 3 at the Woodside Tour de Perth after clipping away with Adam Semple (Satalyst-Giant) on the final ascent up the Zig Zag climb. It marked the end of a well-deserved result for the Huon Salmon-Genesys squad who protected the race lead of Joe Cooper throughout the entire 140km stage. Cooper did more than enough to retain his number-one spot in the general classification by crossing the line with the group that sprinted for third-place - won by Brad Hall (Satalyst-Giant).

"Im really chuffed with the stage win," said Earle. "Our priority was to look after Joe and if that meant not winning the stage we were willing to do that."

"To be able to retain yellow and still get a stage win is just pretty much a bonus."

The Perth-based Satalyst-Giant outfit took a small consolation prize with two podium positions after losing their GC man Paul Van Der Ploeg in a high-speed crash earlier in the day.

"It’s really special because it’s the Tour of Perth and all of our friends, family and sponsors are here," said Semple.

After two days 'holidaying' a little under 20km off the coast of Western Australia, at the one of the few places in the world where the quokka calls home, the peloton departed Rottnest Island and made its way back to the mainland for the final stages of the Woodside Tour de Perth.

Cooper took the leader's jersey back to Perth as a souvineir while his Huon Salmon-Genesys teammates sat on the ferry to Perth in a comfortable position after placing five riders inside the top-10 at the end of two days of racing.

Stage 3 would be the first real road stage; a 140km journey through the Perth Hills, starting from the town of Kalamunda before completing three testing laps that included the interesting climb up Zig Zag Scenic Drive. The switch-back ascent was, in similar fashion to the roads of Rottnest, extremely narrow.

Cooper, who begun the race with the leader's jersey on his shoulders had performed recon of the climb with his teammates in the days leading up to the start of the tour and said "if you are not in the top-10 wheels you will just be getting that elastic band effect and by the top turn you could be almost 500m back in a long line."

In short, ensuring you were at the front when the bunch hit the climb at the end of each of the three laps was crucial. The finish line would be at the top of this interesting hill with the potential for a surprise winner to emerge.

High-speed racing, attacks, crashes and abandonments

The day begun in a way that any NRS rider would expect these days: fast and with little chance of an early breakaway being allowed to go clear. This was the rehearsed and performed act for much of the 2012 season as the field continues to go from strength to strength.

Despite numerous attempts in the opening hour of racing it wouldn't be until approaching Zig Zag for the first time, after 45km that two riders went clear of the aggressive peloton.

Before that moment Paul Van Der Ploeg (Satalyst-Giant), who started the day in 10th-overall took a high-speed spill that ended his race. Van Der Ploeg would be transported to hospital after crashing at close to 70km/h while a number of other riders were involved in numerous crashes in the frantic beginning of the stage.

Marc Williams (Budget Forklifts) and Daniel Pinczewski (Downer EDI Mining National Cycling Team) rode away and quickly took a one minute advantage over the chasing bunch. Williams proved too strong for the excited Pinczewski who found himself unable to keep up and decided to return to the bunch a little later.

Williams, out front on his own with almost 100km still to go wasn't about to fry himself and eased his efforts before the bunch made the catch at 64km into the race.

Brodie Talbot (Woodside) was the next to try his luck on the second ascent of Zig Zag and it took a big effort from Budget Forklifts' Blair Windsor to get on terms with the lanky climber from Sydney. Talbot and Windsor eventually formed a brief two-man escape but the Huon Salmon-Genesys squad were too well drilled to allow these two to get away. Windsor was one of the riders to make the breakaway at the Australian Road National Championships and along with Talbot, were not the duo Huon wanted to chase for the rest of the day.

With less than 50km remaining Talbot and Windsor had been brought back into the field, which had been reduced substantially due to the high-pressure race and incidents throughout the day. Approximately 10 riders had already pulled the 'chute' as the race really started to split up.

The GC riders were the next to make an impact with Stage 1's second-place finisher Sam Horgan (Budget) making an attack which was attentively followed by Earle and search2retain's Eric Sheppard. The trio were excused from the main pack for only a short time before being chased down.

Horgan had more to give after his brief flurry off the front and decided the keep the pressure on, attacking again as rain begun to spit on the shrinking field.

Huon were clearly intent on controlling the race from start to finish with Giacoppo or Earle looking like ideal candidates for the stage win and with 10km remaining they were still on the front, albeit at a slightly reduced pace.

Entering the final time up Zig Zag it was Semple and Earle who took a race-winning gap over the field. Earle was looking for time, and the stage win while Semple was making an impressive comeback after struggling with injury for much of last year.

In the end the finishing kick was too much for Semple as he was trailed-off by Earle in the final metres. Earle took the victory while his teammate and race leader finished just five-seconds down with his other GC rivals. 

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